Bath Rugby 12 Saracens 15 – Gallagher Premiership result as Owen Farrell penalty seals vital win

Owen Farrell sealed a vital victory for Saracens with a penalty kick under the posts to break Bath hearts.

Owen Farrell scored a winning penalty as Saracens battled to a narrow 12-15 victory against Bath to leapfrog their opponents into second place.

With stakes high in the Gallagher Premiership clash Bath came back from 12 points down at half-time to level the match.

However, Farrell completed a man-of-the-match performance with a signature penalty under the posts three minutes from time.

The Saracens fly-half was influential from the start and sent a searching pass for Tom Parton who opened the scoring. Farrell then sent an elegant chip over for Rotimi Segun’s to score a second Saracens try as they led by 12 points at half-time.

However, cheered on by their home fans Bath staged a second half fight-back pilling pressure on last year’s championship winners.

The floodgates eventually opened for Thomas du Toit who grounded the ball amongst a mass of bodies.

Seconds after coming on Bath replacement Cameron Redpath pulled his side level with 18 minutes ahead.

However, Saracens showed their experience by turning the momentum and when Farrell was given a late penalty opportunity he gratefully kicked the winning points.

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Owen Farrell said that Saracens felt more themselves and ‘fought for each other’ in their 12-15 win at Bath.

“For us to come here and stick in the fight that we did was tremendous,” Farrell told TNT Sports.

“We’ve gone back to being ourselves a bit more today. It felt more comfortable when it wasn’t going our way and we fought for each other.

“Thankfully it put us in a position to be able to win the game.”

That's full-time and Saracens record a vital 12-15 victory to stun The Rec

Bath came back from 12 points down at half-time with two tries of their own and Repath putting them level after 62 minutes.

Saracens pile on the pressure metres from the try-line before Du Plessis comes in from an off-side position to concede a penalty.

Farrell kicks for posts and kills some time before making it 12-15.

Saracens pile on the pressure metres from the try-line before Du Plessis comes in from an off-side position to concede a penalty.

Farrell is going to kick for posts.

A great passing move from Saracens results in a chip and chase move from Dan. The move catches Redpath in trouble in the try area and he has to ground the ball under pressure resulting in a scrum metres out.

Going down after attempting to make a challenge Bailey took a nasty boot to his face and has had a concussion protocol before being taken off.

The fly-half is replaced by Schreuder

With 10 minutes remaining both sides have thrown on fresh legs searching for a vital winner in this game.

Underhill is off for Bayliss for Bath. Meanwhile, Isiekwe is off for Tizard for Saracens and Davies replaced by Van Zyl

Saracens have seen Geoge replaced by Dan also Willis for Vunipola.

Bath changes see Roux off for Du Plessis, Barbeary off for Coetzee and Ojomoh for Redpath

Seconds after coming on as a replacement a line-out results in Redpath carrying the ball over the whitewash from the back of a drive. Spencer kicks his side level.

After finding themselves under severe pressure Saracens have changed things as Judge has replaced Riccioni

Du Toit eventually gets over the try-line as Bath pile on the pressure with Barbeary going close and then his team-mate diving over from close range among a host of bodies.

The conversion is missed

The hosts have introduced a new front row with Dunn, Du Toit and Griffin all introduced. The hosts then earned a penalty from a scrum and have been piling on the pressure.

With minutes left of the first half a Farrell chip found the run of Segun to double their lead

Spencer looks in pain as he is tackled legally out of play by Daly. He’s going to play on but doesn’t look too clever.

Saracens have already made an early change in this second half as Mawi was replaced by Vunipola

The home fans were right behind Cokanasiga then as the right winger went on a charging run sending some of the visiting defender flying.

However, a forward pass results in the referee stopping play.

Parton with an excellent run which looks to have broken the Bath defence. However, Cokanasiga is back and despite being off-balance does enough with a last gasp tap tackle to deny his opponent.